The invention relates to a carrying tower for a metallurgical vessel, in particular for a casting ladle at a continuous casting plant, comprising at least one carrying arm cantilevering from a non-rotatable carrying column and pivotable about the carrying column, which carrying arm carries at least one metallurgical vessel, a pivot bearing being provided between the carrying arm and the carrying column.
A carrying tower of this kind is known from Austrian Pat. No. 355,747. Since the arrangement of a continuous casting plant in a steel making plant mostly is designed such that the carrying tower is arranged in the region of the crane shadow between a casting crane of the casting hall and a mounting crane in the adjacent finishing hall, every manipulation of larger parts of the carrying tower involves difficulties; in most cases, the utilization of both cranes simultaneously by using special suspensions is necessary.
It is also possible to use a mobile crane for this purpose, wherein it may, however, frequently be necessary to remove part of one of the two craneways and corresponding conduits in order to reach the lifting heights necessary for the mobile crane and to provide a free space for it.
Both the utilization of the two big cranes simultaneously and the utilization of a mobile crane involve great expenditures in terms of time and work.
A part of the carrying tower that calls for intensive maintenance is the pivot bearing between the carrying arm and the carrying column. If one wishes to lay this pivot bearing open--for the purpose of inspection, maintenance or exchange--this is possible with the known carrying tower only after removal of the carrying arm. The carrying arm must be lifted off the carrying tower and deposited elsewhere before getting to the pivot bearing.